Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus.

It is Saturday afternoon and through the kitchen window I just spotted my first bee of the year, going from flower to flower on the clematis which is growing all over the top of my tiny shed. That is an encouraging sign. I am listening to Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus by Spirit which arrived recently.  It came about because a couple of weeks ago on the radio Marc Riley played a track by Spirit called Taurus and talked a bit about the band. It brought back memories for me, because in 1982 I met Randy California the guitarist and singer with Spirit. I was working for a pub landlord called Pee Wee Hunt from Trowbridge who was running the backstage bar at Glastonbury. I wasn’t taking my duties very seriously and was drinking at the bar. That’s where I met Randy. 

I don’t remember much about the conversation, but he was very amiable and bought me a drink and I insisted on buying him a brandy (rhymes with Randy) which he found quite amusing. With his curly hair and headband, he reminded me of Jimi Hendrix. Randy did play in Jimi’s band in 1966 and it was Jimi who gave him the name Randy California to distinguish him from another Randy in the group. There was another amusing incident that night because during Randy’s set the stage was plunged into darkness for about twenty minutes when the generator packed up. That was due to the genny operator being so stoned he forgot to put the fuel in the generator. The drummer Preston Heyman played a twenty-minute drum solo which the crowd clapped along with. You can find some of Randy’s Glastonbury set on Youtube. By the way, I got fired from my backstage job the following morning.

Randy California, Glastonbury 82

Anyway, a friend of mine whose views I respect told me that Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus was one of his favourite albums. I agree, it is a great album. It was released in November 1970 and produced by David Briggs who was recommended to the band by Neil Young. David produced over a dozen of Neil’s albums. The production on this Spirit album is of the first order. There is so much going on in the mix. Spirit were Randy, guitar and vocals, Jay Ferguson – vocals, percussion, keyboards, John Locke – keyboards, Mark Andes – bass, vocals, and Ed Cassidy-drums.

The opening track Prelude/Nothing To Hide begins gently and acoustically, but then rocks out. The lyrics say “We are married to the same bride” the bride in question is music. Natures Way has a pleasant acoustic sound and is one of Spirit’s best-known songs. It was written in one afternoon and first played at the Fillmore West the same evening. There are two versions of Animal Zoo on this CD because it was also a single. It is a catchy song with the refrain “You’re much too fat and a little too long”. Love Has Found A Way has a rhythm track which David Briggs recorded, then played it backwards and they constructed the song over that. Why Can’t I Be Free only lasts a minute and leads into Mr Skin which is a tribute to their bald drummer Ed Cassidy. Space Child has exquisite piano and synthesiser playing by John Locke. When I touch You contains some very weird psychedelic sounds and on Street Worm Randy tries to emulate on guitar the saxophone playing of John Coltrane. Life Is Just Begun contains the lyric Hey Kiowa which is the name of an Indian clan and also a horse in Topanga Canyon. Morning Will Come features some beautifully arranged brass instruments. For the final track Soldier the band went into a studio which had a pipe organ. The majestic sound of this instrument is a fitting finale to this great album. There are also four bonus tracks of previously unreleased or different versions of the songs.

Shortly after making this album Ferguson and Andes left the group to form Jo Jo Gunne. Randy pursued a solo career, although different formations of Spirit emerged from time to time. Randy sadly died in Hawaii in 1997 at the young age of 45 while saving his son from drowning, but his legacy lives on. In the decades following it’s release Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus has rightly come to be regarded as a classic album.